Firefox 3 Release Candidate now available for download — Please note: The Firefox 3 Release Candidate is a public preview release intended for developer testing and community feedback. It includes new features as well as dramatic improvements to performance, memory usage and speed.

Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 Released — Mozilla pushed out the first release candidate of Firefox 3 early this evening, so if you're already field testing Firefox 3, now's the time to go to Help -> Check for Updates to download the latest and greatest build. If you're wondering what to expect, check out the RC1 release notes.

Breaking: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Ars Technica — Condé Nast has acquired popular technology blog Ars Technica (ranked #5 all time on the BloggerBoard), we've confirmed. The site will become part of Wired Digital (which in turn is under CondéNet, run by Sarah Chubb).

Mike Arrington is Right, Facebook is Wrong — Mike Arrington and I had a sometimes violent disagreement on today's Gillmor Gang. — The reason we were arguing? Because we both were arguing different things. — Mike Arrington was arguing that Facebook was in the wrong …

Snackr is an RSS Addict's Dream Come True — Snackr is a new Adobe AIR app that lets you display items in your RSS feeds in a beautiful scrolling ticker on any edge of your screen. I am absolutely giddy about it after only a few minutes of use. Snackr is something you'd supplement your existing reader with, not a replacement.

High-Tech Japanese, Running Out of Engineers — TOKYO — Japan is running out of engineers. — After years of fretting over coming shortages, the country is actually facing a dwindling number of young people entering engineering and technology-related fields. — Universities call it “rikei banare,” or “flight from science.”

Reality Check — I have this notion to write a series of columns from time to time under the title “Reality Check” — columns intended to explain how the world of Information Technology actually functions. Because like any other entrenched, complex, and often closeted industry …

Best Buy (BBY) Buying Netflix (NFLX) For $44? — A reader says there was chatter to that effect this afternoon, as Netflix (NFLX) pushed 6% higher on high volume. — Would this make sense? Only if Best Buy (BBY) has been persuaded that the Blockbuster (BBI) - Circuit City (CCI) deal makes sense, which we certainly haven't.

A baseball cap that reads your mind — The brain-computer interface consists of a baseball with six electrodes (one under the left ear) that detect the wearer's EEG signals. In the current prototype, the system can detect brain activity that corresponds with a person's drowsiness level.

The “Atomization of Conversation” — Last week I was speaking with Lawrence Hooper of Loladex and he used a phrase that's been sticking in my head. When I asked him whether people would be willing to solicit their friends to make a local recommendations via his Facebook application …

A business model for Twitter: Pay up — The Web spirit of “build an audience and figure out the business model later” is a great filter. It allows products and services into the wild without barriers or the need to sell advertisers on an unproven concept.